1942 : Winston Churchill and Britain's darkest hour

1942 Winston Churchill and Britain's darkest hour

Taylor Downing

Book - 2022

Eighty years ago, Britain stood at the brink of defeat. In 1942, a string of military disasters engulfed Britain in rapid succession : the collapse in Malaya; the biggest surrender in British history at Singapore; the passing of three large German warships through the Straits of Dover in broad daylight; the longest ever retreat through Burma to the gates of India; serious losses to Rommel's forces in North Africa; the siege of Malta and the surrender at Tobruk. All of this occurred against the backdrop of catastrophic sinkings in the Atlantic and the Arctic convoys. People began to claim that Churchill was not up to the job and his leadership was failing badly. Public morale reached a new low. Taylor Downing's 1942 explores the s...tory of frustration and despair of that year, prompting Winston Churchill to demand of his army chief, "Have you not got a single general who can win battles?" Using newly discovered archival material, historian Taylor Downing shows just how unpopular Churchill became in 1942, with two votes attacking his leadership in the House of Commons and the emergence of a serious political rival. Some argue that Britain's most precarious moment of the war was in 1940--when the nation stood up against the threat of German invasion during the Battle of Britain. But in 1942, Taylor Downing describes, in nail-biting detail, what was really Britain's darkest hour of World War II.

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Subjects
Churchill, Winston, > 1874-1965.
Prime ministers > Great Britain > Biography.
History, Modern > 20th century.
World War, 1939-1945 > Great Britain.
World War, 1939-1945 > Campaigns > Great Britain.
Published
New York, NY : Pegasus Books 2022.
Language
English
Main Author
Taylor Downing (author)
Edition
First Pegasus Books cloth edition
Item Description
Includes index.
Physical Description
423 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 375-383)
ISBN
9781639362325
  • Prologue
  • "The sleep of the saved"
  • Happy new year, 1942
  • Confidence
  • The channel dash
  • Imperial collapse
  • "Hard adverse war"
  • Shipping perils
  • Grave deterioration
  • Arctic convoys
  • Bombing
  • Island fortress
  • The Desert War
  • Global battles
  • Disgrace
  • Censure
  • "Have you not got a single general who can win battles?"
  • From the pyramids to the ogre's den
  • "Extreme tension"
  • "The end of the beginning"
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Historian Downing (1983) documents in this revealing study of WWII-era England how "military disasters led to political crises and the near collapse of public morale." After replacing Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in May 1940, Winston Churchill helped buoy Britons' spirits during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz while managing British forces engaged in clashes in Africa, Asia, and the Atlantic. Churchill hoped America's entry into the war after Pearl Harbor would bring relief, but Downing shows that things got much worse before they got better. From attempting to provide Russia with supplies through shipping lanes filled with German destroyers and U-boats, to slowing Erwin Rommel's advance across North Africa and battling Japanese forces for Singapore, Britain was stretched to its breaking point. Downing details how a series of crushing losses, including the surrenders of Singapore in February 1942 and the Libyan port city of Tobruk in June 1942, led "to a widespread feeling that Winston Churchill was no longer the right man to lead the nation." Though extended discussions of logistical details slow the narrative somewhat, Downing sheds intriguing light on just how close Churchill was to losing his grip on power. The result is a persuasive reminder things are often darkest before the dawn. (Oct.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Downing (Spies in the Sky; Churchill's War Lab) offers a cogent book intended as a popular account of one year in the life of Winston Churchill, Britain's much analyzed, controversial, and consequential World War II prime minister. Recently criticized in Geoffrey Wheatcroft's Churchill's Shadow for his views on imperialism, labor, and cultural differences, this looming figure in 1942 was often on the defensive in Parliament and the press because of a spotty record regarding domestic and military policies. Historians will appreciate the anecdotal musings of mostly middle-class people that the author unearthed in diaries and responses to questionnaires found in the largely digitized Mass Observation Archive social research project. Filling the position of defense minister as well, Churchill received blame for the fall of Singapore, Rangoon, and Tobruk. There was even a failed attempt to censure him. The author faults him for not preparing Britain for a postwar world as early since victory seemed possible. Downing challenges the idea that wartime Britain was unified and confident from May 1940 through mid-1945; there was the dire 1942, Britain's temporary military nadir. VERDICT For fans of military, social, and strategic history.--Frederick J. Augustyn Jr.

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